hey George, u rock! But i have a few questions,
1. When you do the swivel technique on your pedals, are you doing double strokes, like a RRLL Pattern, or are you doing a straight RLRLRLRL?
Yes, straight singles.
I never do doubles, at least never for the fast stuff anyways.It's all singles, with or without swivel, there isn't much difference in there.
2. Why do you need triggers? I saw on one of your videos that you said you cant play metal without triggers, why? Couldn't you just turn up the mic in your bass drums?
Yes, but it just doesn't work.
Playing at those speeds triggers are necessary, not only to keep the intensity on the shows (metal shows NEEDS loud and clean kicks) but in order to keep the band together on stage.My bands, always follows my kick, the need a clean kick more than i do so they can lock with me.At those speeds, you need a clean sample kick so you know what's up.
Also, it's the drum itself.You just can't make a bass drum sound that clean at those speeds because of the air inside the drum and the mic possition.
I hear people sayind triggering is cheat and stuff like this,well it's not since you are still playing the drum, but it's the speed you get on the drum and the drum is too boomy to respond clearly.I also hear people talking bad about triggers when:
a) They are not able to go fast, they can't so they think 180bpm is the same with 250bpm+. Wrong, it's a totally different world.
b) They use mics and they compress the shit out of the drum, ha ha. This is exactly the same thing, compressors / gates etc. is kinda like triggering.
Now, can someone play the same fast without triggers??? Of course, speed has nothing to do with triggering, it's all about feet.
3. Do you use your fingers or wrists to play your crazy blasts? Cuz I tried using my fingers to control the sticks but i cant get enough velocity going.
I use wrists, Moeller motion.
It's just the way i learned and i am happy with it since i can get a lot more control and power.Still, this is just a personal preference.